Bergen was founded in 1070 by King Olav Kyrre and was for a long time the country’s most important commercial, shipping and industrial town and became a commercial and shipping town of European significance. During the Middle Ages, Bergen was the largest of all the towns in the Nordic countries and the only town in the whole of Scandinavia, which has followed a classical European pattern of development. In the twelfth century economic developments in Lübeck on the Baltic influenced circumstances in Bergen, and it became the geographical and economic centre for the Norwegian maritime empire. From the fourteenth century and for several more centuries, the Hanseatic merchants dominated trade. These merchants established one of their four most important trading stations in Bergen, the "German Office" on the Wharf. During the last half of the nineteenth century until the First World War, there was steady growth in trade and industry resulting in an increase in population, from 17,000 inhabitants in 1855 to 103,500 inhabitants in 1920 (Bergen Town) and it was not until the beginning of the 1830s that the population of Oslo exceeded that of Bergen. The town has fallen prey to several conflagrations throughout its history (haven't they all?). Church and State buildings were usually constructed in stone and could therefore be repaired after damage by fire but homes of the citizens of the town were of wood and therefore had to be built up again from the foundations. The Hanseatic merchants were observant of tradition in relation to architecture and when the Wharf was rebuilt after the great fire of 1702 for example, only a few small changes were made.
Modern Bergen has 235,000 inhabitants and resembles a spectacular amphitheatre
clambering up the mountainsides. One of Norway’s biggest cultural event,
the Bergen International Festival, is held here each year and the town was
chosen as the European Cities of Culture in the year 2000. The old parts of
town are living history with museums and galleries keep both art and the ancestral
heritage alive. The Hanseatic wharf Bryggen, the Fish Market, the composer
Edvard Grieg’s home at Troldhaugen, Rasmus Meyer’s art collection,
the Aquarium and Old Bergen are just a few of the many attractions worth visiting.
Its harbour-front, Bryggen, was a scene of thriving activity for "the
Hansas" until the 18th century. Bergen's commerce still thrives, though
nowadays much of it's economic life is centred on the North Sea Oil Industry.